Theater founder, director, playwright, actor and longtime professor Robert Hyde Wilson, 86, died Friday, Jan. 5, 2001, in Salt Lake City.
Mr. Wilson was born Oct. 29, 1914, in Salt Lake City and colleagues estimate he touched and influenced the lives of nearly 3,500 students and actors during his long and prolific career.
Besides serving as an educator and mentor to thousands of University of Utah students and actors during his nearly 50-year career, he was known for directing about 200 theatrical productions along the Wasatch Front.
In 1938, Mr. Wilson founded the Playbox Theatre, which many of his longtime colleagues say laid the foundation for the broad array of community, professional and semi-professional companies enjoyed by theatergoers across the state today.
He also founded the Lagoon Opera House, was senior director of Pioneer Memorial Theatre, and endowed a scholarship fund for U. students. He also wrote plays, performed on stage, taught playwriting and took part in a poetry society. After he retired, he coached theater students.
In October 1999, as part of his 85th birthday celebration many of Mr. Wilson's former students paid homage with a brief production touching on highlights from his life. The party was originally scheduled at the Playbox but overwhelming response moved the event to much larger Kingsbury Hall.
Mr. Wilson dabbled in painting, piano and journalism (he was assistant editor of West High School's Red and Black newspaper) before settling on theater as a career.
His early years in theater included toiling backstage, plus some minor roles in productions at the U., and directing plays for the 12th, 13th and 18th LDS wards and the University LDS ward, plus pageants for the church's Mutual Improvement Association.
The statistics of his directorial career are impressive: 75 plays at the Playbox, 35 at Kingsbury Hall, 25 on the Pioneer Memorial Theater stage, 13 in the Babcock Theatre, 32 in the Lagoon Opera House and several others, including two productions for the Classical Greek Theatre Festival.
During leaves of absence from the U., Mr. Wilson served as guest director of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre in New Orleans, guest director at the University of Minnesota and was associate director of theater at Tulane University.
Arrangements are being made for a private memorial gathering for family and friends Friday, Jan. 12.